Moment Writhing People Smuggler Called ‘The Mountain’ Who Arranged A Migrant Boat’s Canal Crossing That Killed A Seven-Year-Old Girl Is Faced After Being Tracked Down On The Streets Of Luxembourg

A people smuggler who arranged a cross-Channel crossing for migrants that killed a seven-year-old girl and four others has been tracked down and confronted for his alleged crimes.

Gang leader Rebwar Abas Zangana, known as ‘The Mountain’, was identified as being behind a boat launch in April where a schoolgirl named Sara suffocated under a pile of bodies in the bouncy castle off the coast of northern France.

Images from the beach that evening show the moment more than 100 migrants, including Sara and her family, desperately tried to board the small boat in the hope of reaching Britain.

The ship was terribly overcrowded and drifted several hundred yards offshore before beginning to capsize, the ensuing panic causing a stampede in which Sara was trampled to death.

Apparently terrified of being arrested for his involvement in the disaster, The Mountain went on the run and hid in Luxembourg, where a team of BBC Journalists have found and unmasked the ruthless smuggler.

Footage of the moment The Mountain is challenged shows him squirming as he is shown a photo of the little girl who died while he was allegedly making money from her family.

‘These people are greedy. They only care about money. I hope they will face justice. All of them,” Sara’s father Ahmed said of the depraved smugglers he blames for the tragedy. “My daughter’s death should not have been in vain.”

British police have arrested two suspected smugglers following Sara’s death, but these men are believed to be low-ranking officers who may even have worked on the boat itself.

In a bid to track down the smuggling gang’s bosses, the BBC spoke to survivors of the April 23 tragedy.

Many who wanted to come to Britain had only had to deal with middlemen. After meeting them in migrant camps, they paid them extortionate prices for the journey.

But three migrants helped identify the head of a gang operating out of Belgium, a man known as Jabal – Arabic for Mountain.

The team traveled to Antwerp where they found an intermediary in a city barbershop.

Pose As a potential client looking to cross the Channel, an undercover reporter spoke to the intermediary, who agreed to put him in touch with The Mountain.

Almost two weeks later, the reporter received a call from the smuggler asking: ‘So you want to go to Britain? How many seats do you need? Are you ready?’

Despite the many deaths his plan led to, the team revealed that the brazen smuggler is continuing his shady operation, charging migrants more than £1,200 (€1,500) for the chance to reach Britain.

The Mountain assured the reporter that the cross-Channel journey was ‘a safe job’ and that he had improved his tactics since Sara’s death.

However, hours later he fled Antwerp, with a source suggesting to the BBC that he feared arrest over his involvement in the deaths of migrants.

The BBC team traced him to his hideout in Luxembourg, where they were able to monitor his movements at a refugee and migrant reception centre.

After watching him for a few days, they chased him and confronted the crime boss as he headed to a station.

They presented their accusations to him, to which the shocked smuggler replied, “It’s not me, brother. I do not know anything. What is your problem?’

Despite his relatively calm, hushed voice, he looked worried and shook his head when asked about Sara’s death and whether he was responsible.

The team then called his phone number, as his mobile phone went off, and confirmed they had the right man: the same person who had offered to send their reporter across the Channel in a dangerous dinghy.

Despite the risks of the life-threatening journey, a record number of migrants – more than 12,900 – have crossed the Channel this year in an attempt to reach Britain.

Sara’s father Ahmed has previously said he felt he had no choice but to try to make the journey with his family.

The Iraqi national, who spent 14 years in Europe after fleeing his home country, revealed that he had sought asylum in the EU for years but was rejected time and time again.

He and his family risked deportation back to Iraq, leaving them with only one option: to flee across the Channel to Britain.

‘If people were in my place, what would they do? Those who (criticize me) have not suffered what I have suffered. This was my last option,” he said.

Today, Sara’s surviving family – Ahmed, his wife Nour Al Saeed and their two other children, 12-year-old Rahaf and nine-year-old Hussam – live in a temporary hostel for migrants outside Lille, France.

The family has no right to stay in France after the fall, the BBC reports. They cannot dream of a ‘normal life’ and reunion with relatives in England.